NOT ABOVE THE LAW?

No one should above the law, be they politicians, bankers or the rest of us. The latest blatant illegality on the part of the banks should result in a criminal investigation into affairs at Barclays (the bank was fined £290m for manipulating LIBOR interest rates between 2005 and 2009). This latest criminal act is a direct result of the financial crisis and its lack of legal consequences, the banks (and the bankers) have got away with it in recent years. Where guilt and criminal intent can be established then those responsible should be charged for their crimes.

The banking sector has developed a culture of entitlement, with its something for nothing operating culture. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has now established that there was systematic abuse and manipulation of interest rates in Barclays’ favour. Any individuals who illegally claim benefit or try to manipulate the system to their benefit run the risk of criminal convictions and prison terms – so why not the bankers who have rigged the market to the tune of billions of pounds? Since when has it been acceptable for a to be fined £290m and the only sanction is to offer to give up your bonus.

It is no more acceptable for the rich people to scam money than anyone else. Such behaviour might be acceptable under a New Labour or a Conservative Government but it is not acceptable to the rest of us. It is worth remembering that much of the illegality took place under the last Labour government, when Ed Balls and Ed Miliband and the rest of them were ‘relaxed’ about people becoming filthy rich.

There is little difference between New Labour and the Conservatives when it comes to their fawning attitude towards the mega-rich in the finance sector and it was their ‘light-touch’ (near nonexistent) regulation which helped City money men rake it in at our expense. The scandals over MPs expenses, newspaper phone hacking and the economic collapse all broke when New Labour were running the shop.

The Con –Dems and New Labour have been happy to stand up for the mega-rich and have cared little for the ordinary citizen. Resignations (and no doubt ‘golden parachutes’) are not acceptable; there have to be some real lasting consequences. So enough off the court of public opinion it’s time for some appearances in the law courts!

A TEST OF CHARACTER?

One judge of character is how you behave when called to make a stand for your friends when they are in trouble. I mention this because oddly enough the Bureau of Investigative Journalism has done some digging that may shed a slightly different perspective on David Cameron's decision to stand up for the City of London, rather than the rest of us. Now it turns out that some of the city of London's biggest banks happen to be involved (or at least behind) some large scale tax avoidance top slicing European countries of some hundreds of millions of Euro's a year. This investigative journalism may go some way to shedding some fresh light on David Cameron's decision to wield Britain's EU veto to protect the Square Mile (and no doubt some of his mates).

FORMER TORY DONOR BACK IN THE UK

The former Conservative party donor Asil Nadir (the former Polly Peck tycoon) has voluntarily returned to UK. Whatever his motives for returning, after he fled the UK to North Cyprus some 17 years ago to evade a potential trial for fraud, his timing is quite interesting. Nadir who was charged with fraud and 66 counts of theft when he was chief executive of Polly Peck, a business empire which traded in products as diverse as groceries and electronics. It has been alleged that he (once Mr's Thatcher's golden boy) secretly transferred £34m out of the company, leading to its collapse.

Now With Turkey in the process of trying to negotiate it's entry into the European Union, a number of loose ends need to be tided up, two biggie's include the on-going problem of Cyprus, along with Turkey's continued oppression and persecution of the Kurdish people. The former is particularly important to Greece and also to Cyprus (the non-Turkish occupied portion that is) as the Cypriot Republic is also an EU member.

While David ('Call me Dave') Cameron and his predecessors Brown and Blair would have liked to ignore or brush under the carpet so to speak the plight of the Kurds, there are plenty of voices within the EU who won't that happen. I digress the real motivation for Mr Nadir's return may lie in the fact that Turkey, anxious to smooth a path into the EU is bringing pressure on nominally independent Turkish Cyprus to cease to be a safe haven for criminals, embezzlers and other unsavoury characters, whose presence is an embarrassment to the Turkish Government on the mainland. 

Additionally, the election of a Conservative (well a largely Conservative) Government may have been interpreted by Mr Nadir, as an indication that he might receive a slightly warmer and more friendly reception now, rather than ending up being extradited by the increasingly co-operative Turkish Cypriot Republic, where he has been hiding for the last 17 years. I wonder how long it will be before he graces the door of Downing Street? If I was Mr Cameron, I think would stay in Cornwall and leave that one to Mr Clegg...